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Monday, January 24, 2011

Day 2 - Penang

After a good night rest, I woke up around 9am. What a peaceful morning~~~ Haha....no 'tour bus' hovering over me or screaming at my face to wake me up. Baby, mami still miss you thou... hehe

So, after washed up, ate some Bukit Mertajam's brekkie bought back by my aunt and we were getting ready for our outing again. We are going to Penang Island today.

First stop, we went to Mahindarama Temple or more likely to known as Guleng Hood by the local Penangites.

Guleng Hood is famous when there’s a major examination coming, such as UPSR, PMR, SPM, PMR or O Level, A Level and whatever, where local students or parents of student will go to the Guleng Hood Temple to pray and get some blessing hoping to score and do well in the exam.
And what I'm doing there right? At this age, I dont think I need to go for any examination. If I do, I'll be crazy plucking all my hairs :)

There is another buddha statue inside the temple. The Reclining Buddha statue. Looking so serene and peaceful.

Well, this was my 3rd time praying there. The last time when I'm there was 3-months preggie with Caleb. Praying for my baby's health and smooth delivery for me and baby. Well, 2 years later it's time to pay back the vow. Yes, say THANK YOU la....

Then asked for more...like?

Please popi my Caleb more obedient and dont kek si his mami. >**<

Don't know when pay this back. Oh well....

After that we went for lunch. My cousin choose this place.

Hai Nan Town Restaurant.

Known for its Nyoya and Hainanese delicacies (apart from it fairly high price, but I'm not the 'boss-of-the-day' so, I got no complaint :D) located by the jetty at Weld Quay, Church Street Pier and QEII.

The view was stunning, overlooking at the marina from the restaurant.

We choose to sit at the verandah because we thought of having our lunch facing the sea. 'Mou tek hou keng' ma....dine just like the riches :)

We quickly made our order as I'm hungry, haha...when you are on vacation, doing nothing makes you frequently hungry. :)

Fried Spring Roll.

It was really nice. Crispy on the outside and bursting with flavour inside. It tasted even better when dipped into the sambal sauce provided.

Assam Prawns (damn big prawns, as big as my fist leh)

No wonder each prawn priced at (almost) RM10 *fainted*

The prawn was fresh and crunchy but the gravy was tad too sourish for my liking. No 'asam' frangrance emitted through the dish, just bland and abit bitter aftertaste lingered in my mouth.

Next was a rather rare traditional nyoya dish called Perut Ikan or literally knows as 'stomach of the fish'. This is a very special dish and require a certain of experiences to make this.

From what I know, it need alot of herbs, spices and vegetables, dice, blend and chop, not to mention cleaning the fish intestines. You need to buy those big fat fish because big fish will have big intestines, otherwise if you use small fish intestines, it will disappear after you've cook it. :)

I only took a spoonful of this. Hehehe....I can't stand the sourish and spiciness in it. Yala yala..I'm very 'cha' one la ~ ~ ! That's why I have good complexion ma ...kakaka. Sorry jk, now I know why you got alot of 'pim pim' on your '***-***'

Assam Curry Fish. We choose a black pomfret fish.

Taste was (...~again~...) spicy and sour. But I like the okra in the curry, mmmm....it just burst in your mouth with all the curry flavour, seeds, slime and mucus. Haha...MUCUS...ok, I better stop illustrate it.

Hai Nan Kopi.

Just average. Old Town Kopi O was better than this.

Overall, the lunch was good. Somemore when people treating you, you must say 'THANK YOU' with big fat grin on your face.

It is actually a museum of Baba and Nyonya in Penang where the mansion itself was owned by a very famous and influencial historical personality, Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee. You can find all the history provided by Mr. Google.

A Baba and a Nyonya

The mansion formerly known as 'Hai Kee Chan' means Sea Remembrance Store is situated at Church Street of the George Town Heritage Zone.

The main entrance but it was locked. So everybody need to go to the side entrance.

The Main Entrance. 'Hai Kee Chan'

This is the side entrance. Upon entrance you need to pay RM10 for an admission fee but is free for kids under age of 6. Have you watch "The Little Nyonya" produced by MediaCorp Singapore? Well, this mansion had become the main venue for the drama shooting. It was really a nice movie. I remembered I watched it like 3 times. Why so much? 1st time I watched myself, 2nd time I watched with my mom and the 3rd time I kinda forget why I watch it in the first place.

Confusing huh? :)

The moment I stepped in, all you can hear me was 'ahhhh' and 'uhhhh' everywhere. Ya, like 'ah mau chut sheng' - a villager coming to town.

But all the architectural design, beautiful iron cast for the balconies and railings, elegant carved-wood panels, ceramic floor tiles - all were lavishly furbished.

So, it definitely worth my 'ahhhh' and 'uhhhh'.

It has 2 dining rooms halls (too big already, cannot use the term room). First dining hall is for guests whereby the Peranakan family will prepare a big feast to serve them.

'Tok Panjang'

Can you see me? Ass-big mirror. Wonder why they need such a big mirror.

And if suddenly they have English guests coming in, rich baba would prepare a special room with all the European cutlery, napkin, tea set and decorations.

What are these means? Err..yat sok, yat sok, yat sok and sam tong - because the first 3 got bird and the other one got 3 circles. Good leh....

Lai lai lai...puak keau - come come, let's gamble!

**This pictures taken from my cousin. Thank you ohh**

That game it called cherki (card game), not mahjong. :) played by all old and young Nyonyas while munching/chewing on their never-ending betel nuts.

And it's time to go upstair. The upper floor showcase the family living hall, bedrooms, traditional bridal room with typical Nyonya matrimonial bed and sewing room.

Now let's see what they have in Nyonya Bridal Chamber ~~ 20's - 40's

Brass 4-Poster Bed. Very small leh, how to sleep 2 persons?

What a girl what? What a girl need? Answer is a cupboard full of SHOES!

Nyonya are trained to make their own shoes, even from little girl. Poor thing, I'll go blind if I need to make this...

...and their own nyonya clothing.

What they have in Nyonya Bridal Chamber ~~~ 30's - 50's

2 beds joined together with wedding gown and dress laying on top.

Old radio but full of nostalgic moment. Wonder if it still work?

A cupboard full of glassware.

Enough of bedroom tour, we went outside to the living hall. We saw few cabinets that full of ceramic plates, tea sets, spoons, bowls... Wow..this are a really antique! I think back at home my mom still kept a few plates and tea sets passed down to her from my grandma.

Yes, if you wonder, my grandma was one of the Baba-Nyonya descendant. I guess I have a lil bit stream of nyonya's blood flowing in me. :)

A big kam-cheng or urn of diferrent sizes, colors and shapes.

We went downstair another separate building for the kitchen tour.

One the way to the kitchen, if you are tired, you can sit down first

Pass by this big hall on the way to kitchen. The whole tour was like secret compartment everywhere. Least you've expected it, there were this room and that room and that room and that room...

In this hall, you can pre-book it if you want to having big dinner party, annual dinner or even wedding dinner. They do cater for that.

Or just simple gathering or business talk.

Decorated dining table

Haha....curi picture from my cousin again.

Well, this is the kitchen area. It's huge!

Pounding on spices and sambal using the traditional mortar. Apart from making her own shoes and clothes, they need to learn to cook and pound spices. Then only she will make a good wife and good daughter in law.*sweating* pheww..luckily I'm not born at that time. Mmmm....maybe I did and reincarnated again.

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This is my life

I'm a SAHM and a slave to my 2 cheeky cows and a superwoman to my husband. I adore coffee and love everything with coffee. To keep my sanity in check, I'm setting up an online business, handmade some baby greeting cards and strand some bead. Life is good when the 2 cows didn't drive me up the wall.